Scarlett Johansson describes parenting during 'intense' toddler years

Scarlett Johansson is opening up about her family and what it was like for her parenting a toddler in a new podcast episode.

The "Black Widow" star is a mom of two. She has an 8-year-old daughter, whom she shares with ex-husband Romain Dauriac, and a 1-year-old son with "Saturday Night Live" comedian Colin Jost, whom she married in 2020.

"I remember my daughter -- my daughter is 8 1/2 -- and when she was 2, I thought, 'This is great. I don't know what everybody is talking about,' and then she turned 3 and it was like being in an emotionally abusive relationship,'" the 38-year-old recalled on "The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast."

For Johansson, the "terrible twos" turned out to be the "terrible threes" instead.

"I was just like, 'Oh my God,' It's crazy. It was just so intense," Johansson continued. "No reasoning, like very intense emotional swings and so bossy and adamant … these huge mood swings, constant mood swings, which I was like, those poor little guys, I feel bad for them. It must be a lot. You're like up and down constantly."

In her experience, Johansson found that nothing she did during that time was acceptable for her 3-year-old.

"You get a lot of grief from toddlers, like everything you do is not right, which is hard," she said.

Even though her daughter is older now, Johansson said her family life is still full of ups and downs.

"There is no balance," the actor and founder of skin care line The Outset said. "I'm looking for any kind of balance."

After welcoming children, Johansson said her point of view has also shifted, especially when it comes to prioritizing family and work projects.

"Your perspective changes for sure and that is, I don't know whether that's a hack, but it helps you, it helps the pieces of your life kind of fall into place a little bit," she said.

"I think when you have this other priority … where you go wait, this job is going to take me away from my family for XYZ or I'm going to have to move them in an inconvenient way for this amount of time -- and yeah, I think that changes. It's a big change."